Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit: 3D Printing – the slow revolution

3D printing has been around for decades, yet it’s impact to date has been nowhere near as widespread or as world-changing as that of the internet. So, can we still describe it as revolutionary? Absolutely, says Wilfried Vancraen, CEO of Materialise.

The pace at which 3D printing is affecting the world around us may be slow, but its capabilities and applications certainly fall under the banner of revolutionary.

“It may be slow, but it’s helping to save the lives of newborn babies. It may be slow, but it’s helping to improve the lives of millions of people,” said Vancraen. “3D printing, or additive manufacturing, allows us to not only create different things, but better. It offers design freedom, shorter time-to-market and opportunities to strip weight out of components or end-products.”

At the same time, Vancraen acknowledged that 3D printing was expensive, difficult to use, complicated and hugely over-hyped – or at least, that had been the case historically. However, it’s not just the actual printing, he added. The majority of the work, some 90%, is in the scanning, modelling and simulation data which help to create a superior customer outcome.

According to Vancraen, 3D printing is not just one aspect of digital manufacturing, but the enabler – from CAD file and design optimisation, to file preparation, machine communication and the finished part.

Real-world use cases:

PHOTO BELOW: RapidFiT – the next generation of automotive tooling, up to 90% lighter, saving time and cost at each stage of production, replacing entire toolkits with a modular approach –

PHOTO BELOW: Philips Lighting – production tools 3D-printed in metal, cost savings of around €89,000 a year in operational benefits –

Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit has been bringing together senior industry executives for more than a decade, and is the biggest manufacturer-to-manufacturer conference in the country.

It is the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Digital Manufacturing Week, an annual celebration of UK manufacturing excellence that takes place every November in Liverpool. This year saw 887 delegates attend Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit (up 45% on 2017) and 5,322 visitors to Digital Manufacturing Week (up 36% on 2017).